ToMI: Lair of the Leviathan Review

The first two of the five chapters of Tales of Monkey Island set in motion exciting events that built anticipation for the latter half of the overarching narrative.  With the first chapter, Telltale gave Monkey Island new life with a hearty pirate tale for series hero Guybrush Threepwood.  Guybrush tries to cure a voodoo plague that he himself accidentallly unleashed upon the Caribbean, and his adventure takes him through the high seas exploration, threatening blockades, and thrilling pirate battles of chapter two.  That chapter ends when a giant manatee unexpectedly devours Guybrush and his ship before he could reach La Esponja Grande, the cure for the plague.

And then the momentum starkly halts in an insufficient interlude of indigestion.

The slow start at least leads up to
Coronado’s over-the-top challenge.

See, once in the belly of the beast, Guybrush really has nothing to do except an overly elaborate “inside story” that’ll make sure the manatee makes his way to La Esponja.  As much as I recognize the talent of the writers at Telltale, I feel they drove the story down the manatee’s gullet to artificially elongate what would otherwise be a simple journey to the cure-all sponge.

Perhaps I should give Telltale the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe getting La Esponja, the solution to Guybrush’s problems, shouldn’t be so easy.  Even then, I still didn’t enjoy the claustrophobic Manatee innards as a setting for Leviathan’s adventure-style puzzles and quests.

The cramped manatee belly sure doesn’t make way for an intro as fast-paced as those of the first two chapters, and instead acquaints you with the point-and-click actions with rather standard item collecting and dialogue.  The stomach lining, too, makes for an unappealing, dank use of the game’s graphics, especially when low-res textures look very apparent as dull backgrounds within dialogue.  Using WASD and Shift, you can’t even make Guybrush run fast through the narrow flesh corridors because he’ll keep bumping into things.

They say “Great minds think alike.”
They weren’t talking about these two.

It takes an unsatisfying short time for you to explore the manatee and meet the sparse cast of characters.  Of course, living trapped inside a manatee for a few years made them somewhat strange to say the least, but their eccentricities do allow for some fantastic Monkey Island humor—the one thing the manatee stomach acids couldn’t dissolve.

For one, you’ll clearly see the clever humor behind the peculiar Spaniard, Coronado de Cava, whose hare-brained plans seem all too familiar.  His over-the-top test for Guybrush, moreover, creates an interesting deductive challenge. Though you can easily refer to useful past observations and Guybrush can’t actually die, the scenario still creates a captivating mix of urgency and comedic fun, as the answers to de Cava’s high stakes questions require a logical, yet witty thought process.

Nestor Carbonell of Lost and The Dark Knight makes an unexpected guest appearance.

From the bile-addicted surfer named Moose to the “Guyliner” of Bugeye, de Cava’s supposedly “long lost” crew also offers some funny tasks and does the best it can to have you explore the small environments. I can’t help but notice, however, that too many unimaginative puzzles counteracted the enjoyable ones; for example, the same item disappointingly solves three different puzzles in a row.

The most redeeming aspect of Chapter 3 by far must be the long-awaited appearance of Monkey Island fans’ most beloved demonic skull.  I won’t spoil any more, but if you’ve missed his endearing sadism, his appearance alone justifies the existence of Chapter 3.

The real reason to play Chapter 3.

The latter half of the chapter finally lets Guybrush out of the smelly manatee, but then again imposes similar frustrating restrictions.  Though you do need to travel to different locales, de Cava refuses to haul anchor and further keeps the environments fixed to a singular, constricted point around Guybrush’s ship.  While you’ll have Guybrush perform some surprisingly intriguing manatee match-making on the ocean floor and experience the mystifying out-of-body powers of the Voodoo Lady, all the interesting scenes don’t connect together as well as they could.

Chapter 3’s narrative thus often cuts away for story scenes or puzzle-solving areas, instead of, you know, actually letting you explore and travel to those places; calling it an “adventure” game at this point is a misnomer.  I did enjoy many of the puzzles and dialogue, and I certainly still appreciated the comedy, but Lair of the Leviathan undoubtedly marks the lowest point in the Tales of Monkey Island.  Now that it’s out of the way, I hope the story can get past the filler, and steer Guybrush’s ship to its true heading: the climax promised by the first two chapters.